Historical

8 When Jesus came down from the hill, many people followed him.

² A man who had leprosy [a bad skin disease] came and kneeled in front of Jesus and worshipped him. He said to Jesus, `Sir, I know you can heal me if you want to.'

³ Jesus put out his hand and touched him. He said, `I want to. Be healed.' Right away his leprosy was healed.

⁴ Jesus said to him, `Do not tell anyone about this. But go and let the priest look at you. Moses gave a law about the sacrifice you must give when you are healed. Give it, to prove to people you are healed.'

⁵ When Jesus came to the town of Capernaum, a Roman army officer came to ask him for help.

⁶ He said, `Sir, one of my servants is in bed at my house. He cannot move and has much pain.'

⁷ Jesus said, `I will come and heal him.'

⁸ The officer said, `Sir, I am not good enough to have you come into my house. Just say the word and my servant will be healed.

⁹ I myself am a man who takes orders, and I have soldiers who take orders from me. I say to one, "Go," and he goes. I say to another one, "Come," and he comes. I say to my servant, "Do this," and he does it.'

¹⁰ Jesus was surprised when he heard this. He said to the people who followed him, `I tell you the truth. I have not found any Jew who believes as this man does.

¹¹ I tell you, many people will come from the east and from the west. They will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

¹² But those who were born in the kingdom will be put into the darkness outside. There they will cry and make noises with their teeth.'

¹³ Jesus said to the officer, `Go home. What you have believed, will be done.' At that very same time the officer's servant was healed.

¹⁴ Jesus went into Peter's house. There he saw the mother of Peter's wife in bed, sick with fever.

¹⁵ Jesus took hold of her hand and the fever left her. She got up and began to do things for Jesus.

¹⁶ That evening, many people who had bad spirits were brought to Jesus. He spoke to the bad spirits and drove them out. And he healed all the people who were sick.

¹⁷ What the prophet Isaiah said came true. He said, `He took away the things that made us weak. He took away the things that made us sick.'

¹⁸ Jesus saw many people around him. So he said, `Let us cross over to the other side of the sea.'

¹⁹ A scribe came and said to him, `Teacher, I will go anywhere you go.'

²⁰ Jesus said, `Foxes have holes to live in. Birds have nests. But the Son of Man has no place to lie down to rest.'

²¹ Another man who was a follower of Jesus, said to Jesus, `Lord, let me go first and bury my father.'

²² But Jesus said to him, `Come with me. Let those who are dead bury their own dead people.'

²³ Jesus got in the boat and his disciples got in with him.

²⁴ A bad storm came on the sea. The waves were high. Water came into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.

²⁵ The disciples came to Jesus and woke him. `Lord, save us!' they shouted. `We will die!'

²⁶ Jesus said to them, `Why do you fear? You do not believe in God very much!' Then Jesus got up. He said to the winds and the sea, `Stop!' Then all was quiet.

²⁷ The disciples were surprised. They said `What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him.'

²⁸ Jesus came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarene people. There were graves in that place. Two men came from among the graves to meet him. They had bad spirits in them. They were so bad and strong that people feared to pass that way.

²⁹ They shouted, `Jesus, Son of God, what do you want to do to us? Have you come here to punish us before it is our time?'

³⁰ Many pigs were eating in a place far from them.

³¹ The bad spirits begged Jesus, `If you drive us out of these men, let us go into the pigs.'

³² Jesus said, `Go!' The spirits came out of the men and went into the pigs. All the pigs ran fast down the steep hill into the sea. They died in the water.

³³ The men who cared for the pigs ran to the town. They told everything and what had happened to the men who had the bad spirits.

³⁴ All the people in the town came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to go away out of their country

9 Jesus got in the boat and crossed the sea. He came to his own town.

² Some men brought a sick man to him. The man could not move his arms or legs. He was lying on a bed. Jesus saw that they believed he would be healed. So he said to the sick man, `My son, be glad! The wrong things you have done are forgiven.'

³ Some of the scribes were thinking, `This man is not giving respect to God.'

⁴ Jesus knew what they were thinking. He said, `Why do you think these wrong things in your heart?

⁵ Which is easier, to say, "The wrong things you have done are forgiven," or to say, "Get up and walk"?

⁶ I want you to know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive wrong things people have done.' So he said to the sick man, `Get up. Make up your bed and go home.'

⁷ The man got up and went home.

⁸ Many people saw this and were much surprised. They praised God who had given such power to men.

⁹ Jesus went on from there. He saw a man named Matthew. He was sitting at the place where people came to pay taxes. Jesus said to him, `Come with me.' Matthew stood up and went with him.

¹⁰ Jesus was eating in a house. Many tax collectors and bad people came in. They sat down to eat with Jesus and his disciples.

¹¹ The Pharisees saw this. They said to his disciples, `Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and bad people?'

¹² Jesus heard it. He said to them, `People who are well do not need a doctor. But sick people need him.

¹³ Go and learn what this means: "I want you to be kind. I do not want a sacrifice." I did not come to call good people. I came to call bad people to stop doing wrong things.'

¹⁴ Then John's disciples came to Jesus. They said, `We and the Pharisees fast. Why do your disciples not do the same?'

¹⁵ Jesus answered, `The people at a wedding cannot be sad while the man who is married is with them. But the time will come when he will be taken away from them. Then they will not eat.

¹⁶ No one sews a piece of new cloth on an old coat. If he does, the new cloth will tear the old coat. Then the hole is bigger than it was before.

¹⁷ `People do not put new wine into old wine skins. If they do, the old skins break. The wine is lost and the skins are spoiled. New wine is put into new skins. And so they are both saved.'

¹⁸ While Jesus was telling them these things, a ruler came to him. He bowed down in front of Jesus to worship him and said, `My daughter has just died. But if you will come and put your hand on her, she will live.'

¹⁹ Jesus got up and went with the ruler. His disciples went too.

²⁰ A woman had a sickness for twelve years. She was bleeding all the time. She came behind Jesus and touched his clothes.

²¹ She said to herself, `If only I touch his clothes, I will be well.'

²² Jesus turned around. He saw her and said, `Daughter, be glad. You were healed because you believed.' And right away the woman was healed.

²³ When Jesus came to the ruler's house, he saw the music players and people making a noise.

²⁴ He said to them, `Go away. The girl is not dead, but sleeping.' They laughed at him.

²⁵ The people were told to go outside. When they were out, he went in and took the girl's hand. The girl got up.

²⁶ People in all that part of the country heard about it.

²⁷ When Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him. They called out, `Son of David, help us!'

²⁸ When Jesus came into the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus asked them, `Do you believe that I can do this?' They said, `Yes, sir.'

²⁹ Then Jesus touched their eyes. He said, `As you believed, so will it happen to you.'

³⁰ Then they were able to see. Jesus said to them, `Take care, do not tell anyone about this.'

³¹ But they went away and told everybody in that part of the country about him.

³² As they were leaving, people brought a man to Jesus. This man could not talk He had a bad spirit in him.

³³ Jesus drove the bad spirit out of the man. Then he could talk. The people were very much surprised. They said, `Nothing like this has ever been seen in the country of Israel.'

³⁴ But the Pharisees said, `He drives bad spirits out of people by the power of the chief of bad spirits.'

³⁵ Jesus went around to all the cities and towns. He taught people in their meeting houses and told them the good news of the kingdom of heaven. He healed all the sick and weak people.

³⁶ He saw the many people and was sorry for them. They were troubled and they could not help themselves. They were like sheep with no one to care for them.

³⁷ Then Jesus said to his disciples, `The harvest is much. But there are not many people to gather it.

³⁸ Talk to the Lord of this harvest, and ask him to send out people to his harvest.'